para-selves.

Para-Selves is a growing series of self-portraits. By digitally juxtaposing aggressive and passive versions of myself, the works demonstrate a hierarchy between the seemingly identical figures. Para-Selves conveys the struggle of assessing one’s authentic identity and an imposed cultural identity constructed by social expectations. Each portrait critiques an aspect of these expectations and depicts the way my actions oscillate between conforming to and excessively defying the generalization of the East Asian culture. The works interrogate how these paradoxical representations can co-exist.